1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to television viewer survey systems and, more specifically, to systems for determining viewing habits of television viewers and television viewer reaction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The preferences and reactions of broadcast program recipients have practically always been a concern of broadcasters and advertisers. Accordingly, a very large number of proposals and systems exist for determining listening and viewing habits of radio and television broadcast recipients, with and without facilities for registering and determining reactions of radio and television listeners and viewers to received programs.
A similar concern has centered on the reaction of audiences to motion picture displays or other presentations in theatres. An extensive description of such a system is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 2,712,976 by P. H. Blaustein et al, issued July 12, 1955, and herewith incorporated by reference herein.
Only very few of the many proposals have found practical acceptance and severe doubts exist as to the accuracy of even the most widely used viewer reaction determining systems. Yet, the prior art has been unable to evolve more accurate and relevant systems, since the proposals which have attempted to break away from the most widely used viewer reaction determining systems and their drawbacks have, in turn, introduced deficiencies of their own.
For instance, a currently employed viewer reaction determining system averages different types of viewer reactions and generates a numeric indication of such averaging procedures in a display of the particular picture. The above mentioned Blaustein et al patent proposes a variant in which the predominant viewer reaction is indicated by varying colors, such as by way of a color band or a frame around a projected picture varying in color to correspond with the reaction that has been expressed in relation to the various depicted incidence. According to Blaustein et al, the projector may simply be controlled manually by a person having before him a chart script with a broad variable color band of the above mentioned type, with such person then simply shifting a slide within the projector to create a frame around the projected picture which corresponds with the color of the band on the chart identified with the prevalence of a particular reaction at a particular instant.
In practice, systems which rely on averaging of different types of viewer reactions or which limit their output to the predominant viewer reaction are of little, if any, value in surveillances concerned with a genuine improvement of programing and program content and realistic evaluation of actual viewer response and reaction.
In a similar vein, too many prior-art systems are only workable within the confines of a theatre or viewing room in which the audience or viewers to be surveyed are assembled during the particular performance. This imposes further restrictions on many prior-art systems as to their utility and feasibility in a television broadcast environment where viewers are typically scattered throughout a large broadcast reception area in different homes. If one considers only the well-known fact that people will react differently in a large group than individually or in the absence of each other, one can already gain an idea about the far-reaching inutility of viewer response systems which require a gathering of the viewers to be surveyed in a theatre or viewing room.
Existing systems, moreover, suffer from a lack of viewer participation incentive. In particular, many viewers tire of their participation for lack of an assuring indication to them that their contribution matters and is meaningful.